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Servile marriage 2012, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- In India, under section 13 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, magistrates can issue an injunction against any person, including a member of an organization or an association of persons, prohibiting a child marriage where they are convinced that such a marriage has been arranged or is about to be solemnized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The persistence of such harmful practices recently prompted the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child to work on their first joint general comment on harmful traditional practices, which is likely to be finalized in 2013.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95e
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Establish and implement a single, well-recognized process for adoption that includes a holistic assessment of the child's full range of rights, and prohibit private and independent adoptions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Comprehensive prevention strategies against sale and sexual exploitation of children 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- A number of social practices are rooted in discrimination against women. Child marriage is entrenched in social and gender norms that significantly affect the well-being of girls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Report of the SR on the right to health and Agenda 2030 2016, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- Addressing violence cuts across the Sustainable Development Goals and is critical to the realization of the right to health. The Goals envisage "a world free from fear and violence" and include specific commitments to eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres (target 5.2); to eliminate all harmful practices, including child early and forced marriage and genital mutilation (target 5.3); to significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere (target 16.1); and to end all forms of violence against and torture of children (target 16.2). The Goals also include a commitment to build capacities to prevent violence (target 16.a). In addition, several other Goals address risk factors linked to violence, including ending poverty (Goal 1), ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being (Goal 3), ensuring quality education (Goal 4), addressing inequalities (Goal 10) and making cities and settlements safe (Goal 11). As recognized in the Goals, reducing and eliminating violence is critical to transforming the world into a peaceful and inclusive global community.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Servile marriages are still practised today; for example, in Papua New Guinea. According to a 2012 report by The Projection Project, "women are victims of forced, fraudulent, servile, fraudulently brokered, and temporary marriages. Children may also become victims of exploitative marriage".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 99
- Paragraph text
- In many countries with a legal minimum age for marriage, there are also exceptions for girls below that age. Where exceptions exist, rigorous procedures must be put in place to ensure that the marriage is in the child's best interests. Private and public institutions must be required to systematically consider how children's rights and interests are affected by their decisions and actions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The Convention implicitly prohibits forced early marriage. Under article 1 (d), States parties are required to abolish any institution or practice whereby a child or young person under the age of 18 years is delivered by either or both of his natural parents or by his guardian to another person, whether for reward or not, with a view to the exploitation of the child or young person or of his labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96i
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Annual quotas for adoptions by countries and/or agencies should be eliminated and the "reversal in the flow of files" approach should be adopted by refusing to accept any application that has not been initiated in relation to a child identified as requiring adoption abroad;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- An overarching violation of the intercountry adoption procedure has been the perception of adoption taking place independently from the national child protection system. In certain countries, such as Haiti and Nepal, the absence of or severe deficiencies in the alternative care system have not prevented the launching of intercountry adoptions. The core principle of subsidiarity has thus been completely circumvented.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- As a general rule, suspension decisions are unilateral, uncoordinated and often belated, which reflects the lack of a common understanding (or willingness to implement) by receiving countries as to what the protection of children's rights demands in the sphere of intercountry adoption, as well as a lack of a common understanding of the sale of children and other illicit practices at the source of illegal adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Intercountry adoptions have been fuelled by a demand from prospective adoptive parents in higher-income countries for children from lower-income countries. That demand has put major pressure on countries of origin with weak child protection systems and often led to illegal acts and illicit practices that have resulted in the sale of children and illegal intercountry adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism 2013, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- In some cases this phenomenon may be veiled in a "culturally acceptable" practice through, for instance, child marriage. In countries where early marriage is still a common practice, money can be offered to families to marry young girls, despite the marriage only lasting for the length of the stay. Visitors may also take the minor back to their country, where the child will be subjected to continual sexual exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effective Implementation of the OPSC 2010, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Increasingly accessible new technologies have exposed children to pornography and inspired and influenced young people's sexual practices. Pornography is becoming the main means of sex education and encouraging the spread of related practices and behaviours. Child pornography networks circulate photos of smiling children in order to trivialize sexual attraction to children and to convince children watching that they are having fun.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effective Implementation of the OPSC 2010, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Sexuality remains a taboo subject in many societies. Ignorance, apprehension and embarrassment contribute to parents' unwillingness to talk to their children about sex for fear of arousing their curiosity or encouraging sexual debauchery. The topic of sex is therefore discussed among youth, often of the same sex, between brothers and sisters, and sometimes with teachers (as part of sex education).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of indigenous women and girls 2015, para. 79d
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States] [With regard to violence against indigenous women and girls, Member States should:] Ensure that all forms of violence against women, including female genital mutilation and child marriage, are included as violations within criminal law;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of indigenous women and girls 2015, para. 72b
- Paragraph text
- [Despite the significant constraints facing them, there are many instances where indigenous women having successfully mobilized to fight for their rights. Those successes have led to the development of promising practices in relation to the respect and protection of indigenous women. The following examples of good practice are illustrative and not exhaustive:] Numerous tribes, such as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, maintain the practice of banishing perpetrators of violence against women from their tribal jurisdictional boundaries. That has proven to be an effective sanction which prevents women and their children from being forced to flee their home due to violence. Banishment is a serious community sanction that cuts off perpetrators and sends a strong message about the protection of women and children in the community. Several Kankanaey Igorot communities in the Cordillera region of the Philippines have customary laws that banish members who have committed rape. Thus, in those communities, incidences of rape are very low compared to urban areas and other provinces. The women of some Kalinga Igorot villages in the same region have succeeded in convincing their traditional leaders to abolish the discriminatory practices of bride price, dowry and arranged marriages;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- A forced marriage occurs without the full and free consent of at least one of the parties or where at least one party is unable to end or leave the marriage, including as a result of duress or intense social or family pressure. Child marriages involve at least one party under 18 years of age. Seven hundred million women alive today were married before the age of 18, and 250 million before the age of 15. These harmful practices occur in every region in the world, are strongly linked to violence against women and inflict long-term physical and psychological harm on victims. They can legitimize sexual abuse and exploitation; trap women in situations characterized by domestic violence and servitude, marital rape and life-threatening early pregnancies; and affect the victim's capacity to realize the full range of her human rights. (CEDAW/C/MNE/CO/1, CRC/C/MRT/CO/2, A/HRC/26/38/Add.3). Child marriage constitutes torture or ill-treatment (CAT/C/ETH/CO/1), particularly where Governments fail to establish a minimum age for marriage that complies with international standards or allow child marriage despite the existence of laws setting the age of majority at 18 (CAT/C/YEM/CO/2/Rev.1, CCPR/C/BGR/CO/3), to criminalize forced marriage and to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender perspectives on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 2016, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- In many States, children born with atypical sex characteristics are often subject to irreversible sex assignment, involuntary sterilization and genital normalizing surgery, which are performed without their informed consent or that of their parents, leaving them with permanent, irreversible infertility, causing severe mental suffering and contributing to stigmatization. In some cases, taboo and stigma lead to the killing of intersex infants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 46c
- Paragraph text
- [Accordingly, to be regarded as harmful, practices should meet any or a combination of the following criteria:] They are traditional, re-emerging or emerging practices that are prescribed and/or kept in place by social norms that perpetuate male dominance and inequality of women and children, on the basis of sex, gender, age and other intersecting factors;
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision for the mandate 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Children with albinism are often particular targets of attacks due to the witchcraft-based belief that the innocence of a victim from whom body parts are taken increases the potency of the potion for which the body parts are used. Cases reported by civil society indicate that children constitute a large proportion of victims of ritual attacks.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision for the mandate 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Bullying of school-age children owing to their appearance has also been reported in other regions of the world, such as in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in that region, discrimination takes more extreme forms, including infanticide, physical threats and attacks. Lack of information on the condition facilitates the spread of myths to explain albinism, most of which are erroneous and in some cases dangerous, including myths that people with albinism are ghosts or the result of conception during menstruation or the result of a general curse. Life in that context could be described as a cycle of discrimination. Civil society has reported that ostracism of entire families owing to the strong negative connotation of the birth of a child with albinism, perceived as a source of misfortune in certain regions, contributes to infanticide and abandonment of children. Where there are no systematic birth and death records, identification and reporting of such cases are even more difficult. In some regions, children with albinism drop out of school for reasons linked to stigma and because no reasonable accommodation is made for the vision impairment often resulting from albinism. A lack of education combined with widespread absence of health information often lead persons with albinism to employment outdoors with no protection from the sun, which exposes them to a high risk of skin cancer.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision for the mandate 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The large number of cases reported by civil society no doubt represents a fraction of the attacks against persons with albinism. The secrecy that often surrounds ritual attacks, the complicity of family members in certain cases, the difficulty in accessing data owing to the fact that most attacks occur in rural environments, as well as the low response to such attacks may serve as hindrances to the reporting and visibility of attacks. Moreover, discrimination against persons with albinism and significant impunity may also have an impact on the reporting of such cases. Impunity was also highlighted by OHCHR, which had received information that persons with albinism faced significant difficulties in having their cases brought to justice. In a similar vein, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children has stated that the human rights violations committed against children with albinism are of the highest severity. Discrimination, harassment and violence, including cases of mutilation and murder, are often met with passivity and rarely reported, as they often take place in remote areas and because such children are perceived as bringing bad luck and being a source of shame to even their own families and communities. Mutilation and murders of children with albinism are mostly met by social silence and indifference.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- In addition, there have been cases where persons with albinism themselves have been accused of witchcraft and persecuted as a result. This can be linked to some of the dehumanizing myths described above. Mothers of children with albinism have also, in certain instances, been accused of witchcraft for giving birth to a child with the condition.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- One of the most extreme consequences of adhering to myths concerning albinism is infanticide. Although cases of infanticide of children with albinism are very hard to document, anecdotes and folk stories about the killing at birth of such children, particularly in rural areas, are common.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In areas where myths are prevalent, the birth of a child with albinism is often viewed as a social tragedy. Ridicule, blame-throwing, harrowing family intervention and pressure placed on parents or on the mother of the child are commonplace. Because of the social stigma attached to having a child with albinism, fathers of children with albinism sometimes decide to abandon their partners, leaving those children to be brought up in challenging conditions by single mothers. Often, such a single mother and her child are further relegated to the fringes of the community to avoid contaminating others with her "curse". In other instances, mothers voluntarily relocate away from the community to minimize taunts and harassment from others. Therefore, raising a child with albinism in these contexts, either as a single mother or in a family, is synonymous with a life of exclusion and poverty - one that leaves the child with albinism vulnerable to both sexual and physical attack, as has been demonstrated by reported cases. In other cases, children with albinism have been abandoned or rejected from their birth by both mother and father and have grown up in orphanages and on the streets.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, myths also portray children with albinism as symbols of evil spirits that need to be chased away. To do so, it appears that rituals are conducted whereby the child is forced to drink a potion or go through other ritual ceremonies and trials by ordeal.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, myths accuse the mothers of children with albinism of having been unfaithful, specifically for having extraconjugal affairs with a white man, with a ghost or with a spirit such as the tokolosh (a malevolent spirit in the Shona tradition). There is also a myth that children with albinism are the product of incest.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Girls with disabilities are also likely to be proposed for marriage in regions and communities where child marriage occurs. Indeed, families are more prone to force girls with disabilities into marriage because they see it as a way to ensure long-term security and protection for their children. In addition, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has strongly condemned the practice of female genital mutilation affecting girls and women with disabilities in a number of countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related killings of women 2012, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- In recent decades, sex-ratio imbalances in favour of boy children have grown in a number of Asian countries, and there is broad agreement concerning the problem of gender-biased sex selection. In a context of son preference, the recent availability of technologies that can be used for sex selection has compounded the problem. The rise in sex-ratio imbalances and the normalization of the use of sex selection is caused by deeply embedded discrimination against women within marriage systems, family formation and inheritance laws.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph